Thief
by YamiSerenity
Summary: AU. Kaoru has been kidnapped by a group of kids! What is their leader's secret, and what does he want with Kaoru?


Thief: Chapter 1  
  
Ladeeda! Hello, and it's my second posted Kenshin fic! Yay! Everyone celebrate!!  
  
*crickets chirp*  
  
*sighs* Oh well. So this is my first Kenshin AU, and I hope it's not too stupid/confusing. Everyone but Kaoru is a little kid in this fic, just to clear that up right now. I tried to include as many characters in it as I could, but I wanted more guys than girls, and I kept thinking up more girls... so I stopped thinking.  
  
Sanosuke: *huffs* STOPPED thinking? When did you ever START thinking?  
  
*whaps him* Quiet, you! Or I'll turn you into a little kid for the Author's Notes, too!! And Kenshin, do the disclaimer!!  
  
Kenshin: Lucy-dono does not own Rurouni Kenshin at all. All she owns is the first manga, some pictures printed off the internet, some fanart, and a clay figure of me, that she does. It's not half bad, either. Oh, and she also plans to send Nintendo an idea for a Rurouni Kenshin GCN video game sometime soon.  
  
On with the chappie! ^ ^  
  
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Kaoru was stuck. She cursed herself quietly. How could she let herself get captured like this? One minute she'd been walking home, and the next she'd been ambushed by... what were they, anyway? Midgets? Awfully strong midgets, though. She struggled against the ropes binding her wrists and ankles. Stupid dexterous midgets!  
  
"We're not midgets, lady."  
  
Oops, must have said that out loud. She looked at the door. A small person there, arms folded. His hair was like spiky chocolate, with a red bandana around his forehead. He wore short white pants and a white coat. His right hand was bound in bandages. Kaoru blinked.  
  
"You're... you're just a kid!!" she gasped. He nodded. She groaned. How weak was she, getting kidnapped by little kids!? After all, this one in front of her couldn't be more than nine years old! "What do you want from me?" she asked after a minute of berating herself.  
  
The child shrugged. "Himura-sama will tell ya what ya need ta know."  
  
"When can I go home?"  
  
"After ya talk ta Himura-sama!"  
  
"Ok, where's this Himura-sama, then?"  
  
"Right here," said a new voice. Kaoru gulped, expecting the apparent leader to be a powerful, towering man. The child stepped out of the doorway, into the room. In strode...  
  
...another child. This one had long, shaggy red hair done in a low ponytail. He wore a white hakama and, strangely, a pink gi. He carried a sheathed sword nearly as tall as himself. His violet eyes gazed at the tied- up Kaoru in front of him coolly. He glanced at the first child.  
  
"Any trouble taking her? Anyone see you?" he asked.  
  
"No problems. It was easy!" the kid replied. "We were alone, too, Misao was keeping good watch!"  
  
"Good." The redhead nodded, then smiled at Kaoru, who suddenly felt as if she was the child and he was the adult. "Kaoru Kamiya. Welcome. It's a pleasure to meet you at last."  
  
"What do you mean, at last?" Kaoru frowned. He certainly didn't talk like normal kids. Maybe he was one of those child geniuses.  
  
"My name is Kenshin Himura. I know all about you, thanks to my little group here. They've been watching you for me. For about a year, now, I think it's been." He watched her, smiling. She shook her head in disbelief. She had been stalked by a gang of mischievous kids for a year? This is was so hard to take in...  
  
Thinking fast, she decided to test their knowledge. Maybe this kid was lying. Yeah, that was it! He had to be lying! No nine year olds were intelligent enough to watch one person for a whole year and never get caught. She gave the redhead a glare. "My boyfriend probably has the police looking for me already." She tried to look smug. "You'll be found out and taken to jail, little kid or not!"  
  
And then it happened. Kenshin burst into laughter, a group of children behind Kaoru joining a split second later. She started. She hadn't realized they were some behind her, too! "You have no boyfriend, Kaoru," Kenshin reminded her. "We know all about you. You can't trick us like that."  
  
As she tried to turn around, her bound hands were suddenly pulled out from under her. She fell, landing on the floor with a thud. The kids behind her howled even harder. But Kenshin halted immediately.  
  
"Misao!!" he said sharply. The laughter quickly died. Kaoru managed to get back on her knees. The redhead had a frown on his face.  
  
"Sorry Himura-oniisan," an even smaller, dark-haired girl with kunai tucked under her belt said, shuffling her feet.  
  
"What do we say?" he told her, looking oddly not like a child as he said it. Kaoru had never seen a young person so mature; it was rather frightening.  
  
Misao stepped forward, watching her feet. "M' sorry, Kaoru-san. Won't do it again, promise." She glanced up at the leader, who smiled again. This drew a broad grin to the girl's face also, which spread like wildfire to the rest of the group.  
  
Kenshin's smile flickered. "Now Kaoru, would you like to know why we brought you here?"  
  
"Yes I would." Kaoru didn't like the smile on the boy's face anymore.  
  
"Kiss me, and you can leave."  
  
Kaoru blinked. The redhead walked nearer to her and put his face close. Kaoru hesitated, then pecked his cheek lightly. A murmur ran through the small congregation as her lips met his plump cheek. The entire room breathed together, as if waiting for something to happen.  
  
Second after second. Minutes began crawling by. Finally, Kenshin let out a sigh, breaking the silent spell in the room. Kaoru blinked again. "What's going on? What was supposed to happen?" No one answered.  
  
The redhead went to the wall and struck his forehead against it, making a loud cracking noise. After a moment, he spoke. "You're not going to leave yet, Kaoru, I'm afraid." She made an angry noise. "I'm sorry, but you can't." He turned to the first child and nodded. He nodded back and walked over to the prisoner. Kaoru tensed up as he produced a knife from his coat pocket.  
  
"Relax, Kaoru-san," he said, smirking. "Himura-sama don' want ya hurt." He sliced through her bonds, then pocketed the knife again. "Name's Sanosuke Sagara. 'Sup to me to show ya 'round." He stuck his hands in his pockets. Kaoru stood, rubbing her wrists, and followed the spiky haired boy out of the room.  
  
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"This us'ta be 'n old dojo," Sanosuke informed Kaoru as they toured the building. "b'fore Himura-sama n' Hiko-oniisan came here. That was b'fore I met 'um. They fixed it up n' made it real nice, th' way it is now."  
  
"Why's it inside a cave, then?" Kaoru asked. It was true; the dojo was located deep inside a large cavern.  
  
Sanosuke shrugged. "Mebbe Himura-sama likes th' dark? I dunno. Hiko-oniisan just says th' dojo was in th' cave when they found it. Anyway, this 's your room, Kaoru-san." He slid open the nearest door. "S' small, but we think you'll be comfy." He pushed Kaoru into the room. "Someone'll bring ya some food later... Misao, prolly. Bye!!" He tried to close the door, but Kaoru stuck her foot in the way.  
  
"Wait!!" She shoved the door back open all the way. "I wanna know exactly what's going on around here!!"  
  
"Sorry, but I dunno what Himura-sama wants ya t' know!! Don' ask me!! 'Sides, I got stuff t' do."  
  
"Is there a problem, Sagara?"  
  
Kaoru blinked. One of the children had come up behind Sanosuke. He was one of the older kids by the looks of it, and he seemed just as mature as Kenshin. Sanosuke turned at the sound of his name.  
  
"No!!" he huffed, scowling slightly at the older boy. "I just got stuff t' do, s'all, and Kaoru-san's got questions we're not s'posed t' answer!"  
  
The boy smirked. "Well, you go do you 'stuff' and I'll answer to Kaoru." Sanosuke gave him another angry look before dashing off. His smirk faded as he turned to the woman in the room. "Now then, Kaoru, what do you want to know?"  
  
Kaoru returned the frown. "First of all, I haven't met YOU yet. What's your name?"  
  
"I'm Hajime Saitoh," the boy answered as he came in the room all the way, shut the door behind him, and knelt on the floor before her. "I am thirteen years old. I'm the oldest in this group, and I helped found it."  
  
"That's another thing I want to know about!" she said quickly, sitting as well. "What exactly is this group? I mean, not all kids are capable of following someone around for a whole year and then kidnapping them!"  
  
"Mostly what we do is rescue children from abusive parents. We gather all the information we can about each household we plan to liberate. Then, when the parents are away, or dead drunk in most cases, we go in and help the children escape."  
  
Kaoru gaped. "That's kidnap, too!" She rose halfway in shock and anger. "The parents may be abusive, but that doesn't give you the right to--"  
  
"No parent has ever gone to the police to find their kids afterwards, Kaoru," Saitoh informed her coolly. "I'll have you know I came from horrible parents myself. What I wouldn't have given for people to have rescued me, when I was younger. Not that I had anything to give... anyway, eventually I realized no one was going to save me, so I ran away. To this day, neither of my parents has gone to the police."  
  
Kaoru sat back down, still in shock but not so much anger. "That... that's terrible. They didn't even worry about you."  
  
Saitoh gazed even more coldly at her. "No, they didn't worry. It was hell to grow up that way. I didn't want anyone else to have to. So when I met Kenshin and Hiko, we started this group to live out that wish. We found this abandoned dojo and made it our headquarters. We met Sagara when he tried to rob us, but he believed the same way we did, so we let him join us. And that's all you need to know right now." He stood and left, leaving Kaoru with many questions still unanswered.  
  
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Author's Notes:  
  
So whadya think? *sweatbead* Lame, huh? Confused, huh? Trash-can worthy, huh? Yeah, I knew it. Don't try to make me feel better, I know it's a very stupid fic. Just leave it alone, don't lie to me! I'll be ok!!  
  
Kenshin: *also sweatbead* Must you be so melodramatic, Lucy-dono?  
  
*grins* Of course I must!  
  
Kenshin: *sigh* I was afraid she'd say that, that I was...  
  
Sanosuke: RUN!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!! LUCY'S A MADWOMAN!! IF ONLY YOU KNEW WHAT SHE WAS PLANNING FOR THIS FIC!!!  
  
Kaoru: *sits on Sanosuke's head* Yeesh! You're just as bad as our authoress!!  
  
All: *in unison, some only half-heartedly* Review onegai! Keep our fic alive with reviews!! Review early and review often!  
  
See you next chappie! ^ ^ 


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